Composatron opens new plant in Toronto (April 01, 2007)

Toronto-based fencing, decking and railing manufacturer Composatron Composite Technology expanded into a new extrusion plant facility in February.

The new 100,000 square foot plant at 30 Melford Drive is located just down the road from Composatron’s headquarters at 25 Ironside Crescent. Vice president of business development Drew Knox anticipates the new plant to double Composatron’s production capacity. “We just needed the capacity, we have had steady growth with our railing products,” he said.

Composatron has achieved success with its Premier brand of wood-plastic composite deck, fence and railing solutions.

The new plant is primarily focused on the production of the company’s polyethylene(PE)-based decking boards and fencing. Meanwhile, the older facility on Ironside Crescent will be used to manufacture Composatron’s co-extruded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) railing products.

The Melford Drive location is equipped with its own state-of-the-art pellet mill, improving the company’s ability to compound wood fibre and PE. “This will be a great feature for us because it will increase our productivity, and we will also have better consistency and colour distribution in our products,” Knox said.

Operations at the Ironside plant were halted for three weeks last year after a mechanical failure started a fire in a wood dust collection unit. Although Knox said the incident played absolutely no role in Composatron’s decision to expand its facilities, having two plants with compounding capabilities will make for smoother operations.

“Each facility will be capable of compounding so that will give us a backup,” he said. “If compounding is not available, your extrusion lines won’t run.”

Production is being phased into the new facility, and two extrusion lines are currently operating out of the new plant on Melford Drive. The new location can house up to 12 extrusion lines, all of which should be operational by the middle of March.

The company has also added approximately 40 people to its workforce to facilitate the expansion.